Amanda Wade
{|style="width:100%; font-family:Verdana;" |valign="top" class="sigma"| |birth=January 8th, 2532 |death= |rank= (UNSC) |gender=Female |height=5'7 |weapons= |equipment= |vehicles= ''Dynasty'' (modified civilian freighter) |hair=Brown |eyes=Green |augment= |cyber= |medical= |era= * *Post-War |types= |notable= *Younger sister of Marco-035 *Killed the infamous terrorist John Verensky |affiliation=Herself }} Amanda Wade was a well-known smuggler and mercenary, captaining a modified freighter known as ''Dynasty'' in the turbulent post-war years. Growing up with the threat of the , Amanda was among the refugees that survived the exodus from the human settlement known as , eventually coming to Earth with her family. Following the end of the war and the death of her parents, she joined the UNSC Marine Corps for two years until a single volatile incident in 2554 led to her discharge from the military. Her resentment towards her former employers led to Amanda falling in with a group of Insurrectionists led by Remi Marshall, who quickly became her best friend. For years she fought for the rebel forces, all the while doubting their effectiveness until a chain of events left most of her comrades dead. Abandoning her way of life, she took the Dynasty and its surviving crew members away from the conflict, wishing to do some good on humanity's frontier worlds. Establishing the independent settlement of Avalon, Amanda would create a safe haven for drifters and runaways like herself while stockpiling weapons and equipment to pursue Magnus, the man responsible for Remi's death. Teaming up with wanted fugitive Ash Mitchell, they were able to drive off the notorious terrorist at a heavy price. Pursued by ONI for her rebel past, Amanda's attempts to rebuild her life were ruined when the organisation launched a surprise attack that destroyed everything she had worked for, leaving Amanda as one of few survivors. With nothing left, the Dynasty would take take to raiding for supplies as she caused a swathe of destruction across the frontier in her hunt for Magnus, Amanda surviving loss after loss in her quest for revenge. Biography Early Life Amanda Wade was born in January 2532, on the independent settlement known as . Her parents, Anna and David Wade, had been visiting relatives on the colony of Madrigal when the Covenant attacks, and were among those who managed to escape into the asteroid belt at the time. She lived a relatively easy life in the settlement for her first few years, until it was in 2535. This prompted a mass exodus back into UNSC-controlled territory, arriving on where Amanda grew up in a refugee camp. This was a harder life than the one they had in the Rubble, though preferable to facing the Covenant. At the age of twelve, Amanda witnessed her mother's arrest by local UNSC soldiers for protesting against the conditions in the camp, having violently lashed out at a rude official during a demonstration there. Though her mother was let off with a fine, this was Amanda's first real contact with the Insurrection, realising that there were many of her friends and neighbours who harboured a similar anti-UNSC sentiment. Her mother in particular was rather vocal about her views and tried to stir up demonstrations on more than one occasion, though David would calm her down. Eventually, Amanda's parents revealed to her that she was not an only child; she had an older brother on Earth who they hadn't seen in many years. Due to their status as refugees, they could not get a transport back to Earth without paying a substantial fee that they would never be able to afford in their current circumstances. The next six months of Amanda's life were spent at the Falaknuma spaceport as her parents attempted to contact freighter captains and smugglers who would give them safe passage to Earth. In early 2545 they succeeded and spent three weeks in the storage bay of a civilian freighter, the Chancer, living off of meagre rations before they finally arrived in the Sol System. During their trip, Amanda befriended a young cabin boy named Gavin Dunn, who managed to smuggle extra food to her family. However, he was soon caught stealing by the ship's captain, and was no longer allowed near her or the refugees for the remainder of their journey. Amanda found out later that the captain had agreed to transport them after her parents delivered a package of military-grade explosives to a rebel hideout on Falaknuma, which were then used to bomb a nearby UNSC outpost shortly after their departure. While she disagreed with the idea of a violent uprising, her mother explained to her that sometimes bad things had to happen for good causes. With their life as refugees behind them, Amanda's family started to rebuild the life they had abandoned years ago. Life on Earth The return of their family to their home city of London after nearly thirty years was a big surprise to the people living in their old neighbourhood. Amanda's parents were able to reintegrate back into their old society and found jobs to support themselves, though with the war intensifying in the colonies the majority of jobs were going towards the manufacture of supplies and weaponry for the frontline. Having never had a formal education aside from the rudimentary schools set up in the refugee camps, Amanda attended a nearby school, doing reasonably well in class over the next few years. In mid-2549, her she returned home to find her parents talking to an unfamiliar man in their apartment: Her older brother, Michael. Though he was nineteen years older than her, Amanda got on with her long-lost brother very well. He had been staying with friends as his parents visited relatives on Madrigal many years before, though thanks to the Covenant they were assumed to be dead. Michael grew up and like many others, joined the UNSC Marine Corps to fight the Covenant when he came of age. Oddly, Amanda noticed that her mother never questioned Michael's service in the Marines even with her staunchly anti-UNSC stance; the bombing incident was never mentioned either. Michael was on shore leave and revealed to the family that he had a pregnant wife, Melissa, who also lived on Earth. For the first time, Amanda felt as though she was part of a proper family. Amanda spent the next few years attending University studying with hopes of joining a medical profession; Michael had left for the front weeks after visiting them. She spent most of her time either working or visiting her family back home. When Melissa gave birth in late 2550, Michael was contacted via long-distance COM, and the pair decided to name the baby Kate. Amanda doted on the baby girl, and treated her more like a sister than a niece. In 2552, her happy life on Earth was ended when the Covenant finally attacked Earth. As she was visiting Melissa and the baby at the time, Amanda was able to get into the shelters during the Covenant plasma bombardment which ruined large sections of the city. Thousands of civilians lived there for weeks until the all-clear was given, and news arrived that the Human-Covenant War was finally over. However, her parents were not found afterwards, and were listed among the billions of deaths during the battle. Marine Corps In the tumultuous months following the end of the Human-Covenant War, Amanda decided to join up with the UNSC Marine Corps, just as her brother Michael had done. While this was partly due to the wave of public approval for 'winning' the war, her decision was largely due to the death of her parents. By April 2553 she was already in boot camp on Earth alongside thousands of new recruits streaming in. She did surprisingly well there, and was noted for her leadership skills and quick thinking in difficult situations. She was able to contact her older brother during her training after discovering that he had returned home, but was surprised to find that he was angry rather than pleased that she had joined the military after the loss of their parents. After corresponding for a number of weeks, the pair got into a major argument regarding their family and Amanda cut off contact with Michael as a result and resolved to focus on her military career. Her brother would attempt to contact her a number of times after this, though she would completely ignore his calls. Once she had finished her training, Amanda's unit was deployed on Mars for a number of months to deal with a possible rebel uprising there. As the colony had suffered a great deal of damage in the final months of the war, many people there were dissatisfied with the way the UNSC had focused on solely rebuilding Earth during this period. As such, there were a few incidents during this period across a number of Martian settlements, including and , some of the bigger cities. Amanda participated in a large-scale raid on what was believed to be an Insurrectionist bomb-making facility in late 2553, one that was met with disaster when one of their targets panicked and inadvertently activated an explosive device, killing six Marines and wounding nearly a dozen others in the resulting blast. Though she caught a piece of shrapnel in her leg, Amanda dragged a number of others out of the rubble and performed first aid as best she could on the survivors until reinforcements arrived. Her actions on Mars earned her a promotion to and a by the end of the year. Following one operation in December, she was approached by a SPARTAN-II commando, who wished to speak to her in private. While she initially believed that she was in trouble, the supersoldier revealed himself as Marco, her elder brother. This shocked Amanda greatly, as her parents and Michael had never mentioned him at all. As it turned out, Marco had gotten into contact with Michael just weeks after Amanda had joined the military and though he could not reveal everything, hinted that he had been taken away at an early age to become a Spartan. The two parted on good terms, though Amanda did not feel ready to speak to Michael again she promised to try and contact them eventually. Amanda served in with the Marines on a number of worlds over the next few months until early 2554, when she was assigned to a UNSC training facility in , on the colony world of Circumstance. There, she was to help in the training of new recruits until a new assignment arrived for her unit. Amanda was a surprisingly good drill instructor, though she would often butt heads with Master Sergeant Gregory Moore, a DI known for his ruthless streak and rather misogynistic nature. The two argued constantly during Amanda's stay at the facility, as Moore took great delight in forcing trainees into impossible situations or beating them senseless for failing in any way. This came to a head in October, when the Master Sergeant beat a recruit within an inch of his life and ordered Amanda to clean up the mess. This was the final straw for her, as she attacker the man with a stun baton and grievously injured him, breaking an arm, several ribs and causing numerous cuts and bruises before beating him into unconsciousness. This angry outburst led to a notoriously quick court martial and Amanda's discharge from the Marine Corps in spite of numerous testimonies regarding Moore's behaviour. Before she could be sentenced, Amanda was able to sneak out of the base with a few possessions including her discharge papers, and spent some time drinking in Kuiper's bars before coming across a flyer in one of the city's lower districts advertising a meeting for an anti-UNSC rally. Insurrection When she arrived at the supposed rally, Amanda was attacked by two undercover ONI agents, who incapacitated her with a stun baton and attempted to take her into custody. However, both were shot dead by a pair of men who arrived shortly after her, knowing that it would be a trap. Woozy from the mix of alcohol and the baton's electrical charge, Amanda passed out as she was taken into a car by her rescuers. She awoke the next morning to find herself in an Insurrectionist hideout, where she was introduced to Remi Marshall, the man who had saved her the night before. After a short discussion she was formally introduced into the rebel group and allowed free access around their building, albeit under watch. Amanda's first impression of the group was not like she had expected; the people she met did not seem like dangerous terrorists to her. After the capture of Johan Hennerman was announced on the local news, she met another member of their group, Alexander Redford. Amanda took an immediate liking to Redford, who acted as a sort of fatherly figure to his rebel comrades. After less than a week with her new friends, Amanda was forced to flee the hideout when it was attacked by a SPARTAN-III Team, who killed several others while she and Remi fled to their truck in the underground garage. As they began their escape, their tech expert Mike Goldberg was shot in the back several times and almost died, Amanda being forced to keep him alive with stimulants until they reached Remi's personal ship, the Dynasty. While aboard, she met the pacifistic pilot Faisal Khan for the first time and was relieved to find out that Mike had survived thanks to Redford's quick surgery, though he would never walk again. Due to the massive UNSC crackdown on Circumstance, Remi announced that they would have to leave the colony for a safer system. Much to her surprise, the crew did not suspect her at all for the sudden raid and instead welcomed her as the newest member of their group. Amanda spent the next few months on the Dynasty under the command of Remi Marshall, travelling around the sparsely settled frontier worlds that made up the new Outer Colonies as one of his crew. During this period she participated in a number of missions against both outlaw groups and the UNSC, her skills as a former Marine coming in handy in a number of firefights. Amanda's talents and quick-witted nature elevated her to Remi's second in command after she saved him from a Kig-Yar ambush in Ocyober. By this point she had all but cut off contact with her family back on Earth; Michael had tried to speak to her again after finding out about her dismissal from the military, though Amanda refused to tell him where she was or what she was doing. For all intents and purposes, Amanda considered her shipmates on the Dynasty as her new family. In December, she attended a meeting with Remi alongside a number of other rebel leaders, including Mal Roberts and Jonathan Ulan. It was there that they first met with a man named John Verensky, a double agent who revealed his work with ONI in the meeting. The rebels were then approached by 'Magnus', a well-known and elusive figure within the criminal underworld who intended to unite their factions in order to combat the UNSC. Though Amanda disliked both of them, she stood by Remi's decision to work with Verensky and Magnus to further their own agenda. In 2555, the crew of the Dynasty were joined by an Jonathan Ulan, an influential Talitsian rebel leader, and his mercenaries for a highly dangerous mission to Fenwell Prison, a maximum-security facility situated on an asteroid base in UNSC-controlled space. Posing as a supply ship after spending months detailing the delivery schedule for the prison, the freighter was able to land safely without being detected. Amanda then joined Remi and the mercenaries in an all-out assault on the prison, slaughtering the guards and fighting through the facility to release the prisoners. As they neared the lower cells, Amanda's group ran into Carlos Driscol, an inmate who had once been a feared Insurrectionist commander years before. She instantly dislike the rude and abrasive Driscol, though Remi insisted that he come with them due to saving his life on Mamore long ago. It was shortly after this that he found the person they had attacked the prison to free: Isabelle Marshall, his sister. While Amanda was surprised at Remi's secrecy beforehand, she accompanied him and the others in fighting their way back to the Dynasty while Ulan caused considerable damage to the prison in a stolen Longsword fighter. With several new additions to their crew, the freighter was able to escape before a UNSC Fleet arrived in-system, having orchestrated the first ever breakout in the prison's history. NOVA Incident Several months after the breakout, the Dynasty arrived at the Caucasus Station for a massive meeting between dozens of different rebel and mercenary groups, brought together by John Verensky's deep pockets and the promise of an operation that would allow them to strike back against the UNSC itself. There was some initial hostility between Driscol, whom Amanda had been tempted to flush out an airlock, and the former ODST Mal Roberts over the former leaving Roberts to die during a battle some nineteen years prior. Once Verensky stopped the pair from killing each other he showed the assembled groups a plan to strike at the UNSC's base on Earth during a conference between UEG and Sangheili leaders, while simultaneously having another group steal the most powerful weapon in the UNSC's arsenal: A NOVA bomb. While she doubted that such a mission was possible, Amanda kept quiet and helped to plan out their attack on Earth during the delegation in May. Using his position within ONI, Verensky was able to procure military-grade equipment to outfit the main force to attack the delegation, while helping to outfit the Dynasty with the proper codes that would allow it to land on Earth without attracting any unnecessary attention. When the attack finally took place, Amanda was among the ground crew accompanying Verensky to PILLAR Base, a secure military installation located within Mount Everest. By the time word arrived that the attack on the UNSC's Supreme Headquarters in North America had begun, Amanda's team had already touched down within the base, having used the ONI agent's status to gain access. The heavily-armed rebels slaughtered the nearby guards and stormed the base, keeping Verensky covered as he accessed the base's weapon storage. Following a lengthy firefight their leader emerged with the destructive superweapon and had it taken to their Pelican. The rebels were able to escape the base just in time to avoid the arrival of several SPARTAN-III's who would have almost certainly killed them all. By the time they reached the Dynasty in orbit the UNSC's had already mobilised and would have destroyed them were it not for Verensky's quick actions, threatening to detonate the NOVA bomb and cause irreversible damage to both the Earth and Luna if they were not allowed to leave. Not willing to risk such a catastrophic event, the Fleet stood down and the Dynasty left the system, fleeing to the Outer Colonies before the pursuit could begin. As they left the Sol System, the survivors began to take their dead into account. Jonathan Ulan had been killed during the attack in New York, alongside the majority of the force they had dispatched there. Worse yet, the crew had been informed by Sur 'Ranak that their mission to murder the UEG President and many other officials had been foiled by none other than Alexander Redford, who had revealed his true colours after living among them for years. This betrayal came as a shock to Amanda, who considered Redford a good friend; little more than a kindly doctor working for Remi. The fact that he was an undercover agent working for ONI disturbed not only her, but the entire crew as their actions in the years alongside Redford were likely now being reported back to the very foe they had worked so hard to evade for so long. Following their escape from Earth with the NOVA bomb, the UNSC initiated a massive manhunt to track the rebels down. Their first port of call was the Caucasus Station, where Verensky's men unloaded the bomb to take elsewhere for safekeeping. As the Dynasty was now the most wanted vessel in Human space, Remi and Amanda had the ship extensively refurbished with the money Verensky gave them for the mission to Earth, outfitting it with newer weapon systems and doing everything they could to ensure that the ship would not be immediately targeted the moment it entered another Human system. Remi briefly considered selling the Dynasty for scrap, but was talked out of it by Amanda and Faisal after a lengthy argument. In the weeks following their daring raid on Earth, several of the surviving HAYABUSA soldiers disembarked the ship, seeking lives as mercenaries after their betrayal back on Earth. With the overall crew reduced to less than a dozen people, the Dynasty left the Caucasus Station for the Outer Colonies in search of work. It wasn't until December that Amanda returned to the station, shortly after news arrived that an extremist group under the command of John Verensky had launched a chemical attack on a stadium in Kuiper, Circumstance's capital city. With 300,000 dead, the leaders of several rebel groups had agreed to meet up to discuss finally putting down their old ally, who had become noticeably paranoid and unhinged in the year since they attacked Earth. Shortly after, a meeting took place just as a large UNSC Fleet emerged from Slipspace, launching a massive attack on the rebel-held colony. While the civilians were evacuated, Amanda attempted to find Remi and the others, fighting off a group of enemy soldiers alongside Carlos Driscol. By the time she arrived at the meeting room, however, Magnus had already killed everyone inside and mortally wounded Remi, who died in her arms. Driscol swiftly abandoned the grieving Amanda and fled alone to the lower levels, forcing her to leave her friend's body behind after momentarily trapping Magnus behind a reinforced door. Barely making it back to the Dynasty, Amanda swiftly took over as acting Captain and had Faisal escape the UNSC Fleet, plotting a course for the far-off planet of New Albion. Not bothering to heed warnings from Faisal and the surviving crew, Amanda had the Dynasty wait in a nearby asteroid belt while she took a small shuttle down to the sparsely-populated colony world that Verensky had taken on as his base of operations. As his headquarters was very well-defended, Amanda came equipped with full body armour and a variety of weapons; with Remi's death still fresh in her mind, she fully expected that she would probably die in her attempt to kill John Verensky for his crimes. As she infiltrated the former mining outpost through a side entrance, killing everything in her path, the UNSC launched a massive attack led by a group of Spartans to capture or kill Verensky. Eager to beat them to it, she quickened her pace and continued to massacre all opposition until she found herself in a meeting room. After killing several guards, she was confronted by an old ally: Alexander Redford. Amanda feigned ignorance as to Redford's true allegiance, pretending that she believed he had died during the attack on Earth. This allowed the ONI agent to lower his guard as they conversed for a short time until she tricked him into looking over a datapad; this distracted Redford long enough for Amanda to disarm him and tie one of his hands to a table with a military-grade cable tie. Having clearly blown his cover, Redford spat a tirade of abuse at Amanda, which she took with some amusement as she planted a number of explosive charges around the room. Rather than simply killing Redford, she handed him a knife after setting a timer, giving him two minutes to escape if he cut off his own hand. Having finally outsmarted Redford and revealed him for the psychopathic assassin that he really was, she left him there and ran towards Verensky's command room. By the time she arrived, John Verensky had gone from the calculating mastermind he was to a raving lunatic, frantically calling for his remaining followers to detonate the NOVA bomb and avoid capture. When Amanda confronted him, Verensky did not even recognise her, and insulted Remi Marshall when he was mentioned. In response she shot him in the kneecap and attacked him, calling Verensky out as little more than an insane murderer who had gone against the ideals that many rebels followed in favour of a mad revenge scheme. Verensky then revealed that while he had joined up to take down the UNSC, as per his deal with Magnus, his successes had driven him to simply kill as many people as possible before surrendering to the UNSC; he wished to go down in history for his infamous deeds in spite of his failure. Amanda then executed Verensky in disgust, before turning to see none other than Magnus, Remi's killer, facing her. The infamous terrorist, who had also come to silence Verensky, commanded Amanda to leave; he promised her a substantial payment for her 'services'. Filled with rage and eager to avenge her fallen friend, Amanda refused and prepared to attack Magnus, who moved with inhuman speed and disarmed her. Before he could finish her off, a group of SPARTAN-III supersoldiers burst into the room and engaged Magnus in combat. Amanda was able to crawl off and escape in the confusion, hoping that Magnus would finally meet his match against the supersoldiers. As she ran for the exit, she ran into a Spartan who recognised her. After a moment's hesitation, he simply allowed her to leave. Facing little resistance in the partially-destroyed base, she was able to evade the UNSC's patrols and left New Albion unharmed before she was picked up by the Dynasty. While they had lost Remi and countless others, the death of John Verensky and the destruction of many rebel groups left the crew without a goal. Seeing no point in carrying on a hopeless war against the UNSC, Amanda took up the role of Captain without opposition, and decided that they would attempt to do some good in the Outer Colonies, far away from both the UNSC and the Insurrection. Avalon Meeting up with Isabelle Marshall and Mike Goldberg shortly after the NOVA Incident in a far-off hideout on Emerald Cove, Amanda first proposed the idea of turning the hidden former URF base into an actual settlement for those wishing to trade outside of the UEG's control. While sceptical of her plans at first, Amanda was able to sway her comrades and preparations began as they called in most of their favours and what remained of the late Remi's contacts to create the basic infrastructure for their new home - Avalon. While she did oversee the first stages of construction as they moved in prefabricated structures and smuggled equipment, Amanda soon deigned to leave most of the planning up to Isabelle and Mike while she handled the import of supplies and new 'citizens' onto Emerald Cove. It was during this period that she met two individuals who would soon become her most loyal allies: Carol DuMont and Rizhan Kama. The former was a Rocket addict she caught attempting to steal from her ship, while the latter was an underpaid dockworker who aided her after a deal went wrong in a spaceport and a firefight ensued. Amanda took both under her wing, cleaning Carol up and giving Rizhan the opportunity to manage security in Avalon. Her newfound charisma proved to be a boon as both Human and alien refugees begged to be allowed into Avalon, most of whom she let pass without incident. In March of 2556, she came across a heavily-wounded man on the streets of Circumstance named Winston Zhou and took him to a hospital to heal. The man's eye had been shot out and he required a great deal of surgery to survive. Taking pity on the young man, she even paid to have a prosthetic eye installed before he regained consciousness and hoped to convince him to join her crew. However, he revealed himself as a hitman who sought to eliminate Toby Maxwell, an incredibly rich businessman known for his sadism and cruelty. Amanda offered to help him and after purchasing some supplies, ended up ambushing Maxwell's ship as it tried to leave the system. Zhou completed his mission and thanked Amanda for her help, promising his assistance in the future if she needed it but declining a place in Avalon. With a massive increase in manpower and resources, Avalon was being filled up as fast as they could build more of it over the next few months. Amanda would also bring in a former Jiralhanae Chieftain named Saernus during this period after saving him from Kig-Yar bounty hunters. In return, he used his considerable wealth to supply Avalon with military-grade defences from the black market. While pleased with the progress on her settlement, Amanda constantly worried about them being discovered by the UNSC, who in her eyes would easily exterminate a colony run by a group of former terrorists. Also, news of atrocities carried out by the URF had begun to spread, with whispers that Magnus was behind several brutal attacks. While she had assumed him dead at the hands of the Spartan team back on New Albion, finding out about his survival made Amanda obsessed with killing the infamous terrorist and getting revenge for Remi's death. She began to stockpile weaponry and went so far as to purchase two Mantis mechs before Isabelle took control of Avalon's budget from her. However, a newcomer to Avalon, an elderly woman named 'Mary', began to speak to Amanda about her past and began encouraging her to take revenge at all costs. By August of 2556, killing Magnus had become her number one priority. Pursuit of Magnus In early September, Amanda was informed that members of the rebel group known as the New Colonial Alliance had taken one of Magnus' former associates prisoner. While most of colonised space knew this man - Ash Mitchell - as a mass murderer who had taken part in a botched bank robbery that earned him the title of 'The Butcher of Kuiper', Amanda realised that he had likely been set up by Magnus after their partnership dissolved and vowed to help find him. Enlisting the help of several dozen fighters and Winston Zhou, whom she paid a good bit of money for despite a 'discount', they headed to a base on Mamore and launched an all-out assault that massacred most of the NCA's troops and began a lengthy firefight. As she moved towards the base itself, Amanda discovered another familiar figure fighting the NCA - her brother, Marco-035. After assisting Marco in taking down a Mantis, she discovered that he had been sent to Mamore to assassinate Roger Maxon, a prominent speaker for the group. As Maxon had escaped to his ship, the Spartan offered to help Amanda find Mitchell despite the man's dark past. They discovered that the former ODST had been able to escape the base on his own, and after a brief chase was pinned down in some ruins on the outskirts of the nearby city, Agadir. Marco and Amanda arrived just in time to save the injured man, who they loaded up aboard the Dynasty before departing without the Spartan, who promised to keep quiet about finding her on Mamore. After Mitchell awakened and tried unsuccessfully to hijack the ship, Amanda conversed with him for some time and after revealing that their goal of killing Magnus was mutual, agreed to work together for the time being. Following a lead she had on Magnus, Amanda would take a combat team to with the intent of kidnapping Hadvir Erikkson, a businessman known for his illicit dealings with both ONI and several Insurrectionist factions. Moving in as Erikkson hosted a party, they fired sleeping gas through the windows of his mansion before donning gas masks and moving in to find him. While they were engaged by security forces, the team made short work of Erikkson's lightly-armed guards and did not attract any major attention until Mitchell discovered that their target had purchased his armour from the NCA after his capture, smashing a glass case to retrieve it and triggering several alarms. While Winston Zhou carried the unconscious businessman away, Amanda's team beat a hasty retreat through the city streets and made it back to the Dynasty before local police could catch them, narrowly escaping the planet. While she harshly berated Mitchell for his actions, Amanda was glad to have Erikkson and placed him in captivity upon their return to Emerald Cove. Eager to find her quarry, Amanda authorised Erikkson's torture after he did not immediately talk, and was surprised to discover that the old woman, Mary, was well-versed in several interrogative techniques that quickly broke him down over the course of several days. Eventually, they got an important name out of the man: Anatoly Kustentov. After being told of his location on and reputation as a notoriously paranoid and secretive arms dealer with direct ties to Magnus, Amanda set out once more alongside her crew, travelling to the city of Volamon on Cascade to hunt Kustentov down. Walking into the gang-infested slum where Kustentov made his home, Amanda had Mitchell by her side once more - Zhou had since departed Avalon - as backup alongside her chief mechanic Carol DuMont and a team of trusted allies as she made her move. Coming across Kustentov in his apartment, which had been converted into a shop of sorts, the man soon became suspicious of her and opened fire. Narrowly avoiding death, Amanda pursued Kustentov throughout the building, having shaken a hornet's nest as numerous armed gangsters - some on her target's payroll, some defending their territory - attacked her group. After a brief but intense chase, they emerged onto the apartment complex's rooftop and found Kustentov escaping via an emergency hatch on an adjacent building. Amanda had Mitchell blow through the ceiling, though by the time they caught up to Kustentov he managed to active an energy shield, cutting them off as he neared the exit. Before she could think of a way to continue her pursuit, two men burst through the opposite door and restrained Kustentov with a stun baton. It was here that Amanda came face to face with someone she hadn't seen in nearly a year: Alexander Redford. Though as surprised as she was, the ONI agent mocked Amanda before leaving the building alongside his partner, having supposedly also been chasing down Kustentov for some unknown reason. Though she had lost her quarry, a quick search of Erikkson's safehouse in the aftermath yielded exactly what she had been looking for all along: a datapad, filled with personal messages and an upcoming meeting date with Magnus himself, located at an isolated base on the glassed world of . As she made preparations for a journey to Sargasso after returning to Avalon, Amanda was awoken one morning with news that an unidentified ship had entered the system. While her first instinct would have been to eliminate the vessel, she allowed it to land after discovering that it was unarmed and in the service of the Department of Recolonisation and Exploration, and was surveying abandoned and glassed planets for potential resettlement. Aboard the ship was a diplomat named Iris Touré, who began to discuss the details of their settlement with Isabelle, and her older brother, Marco-035. As it turned out, the SPARTAN-II had been temporarily assigned to guard the exploration vessel as a punishment of sorts for failing to kill Roger Maxon back on Mamore. While Touré and Isabelle spoke in a conference room, Amanda spoke briefly about her life with Marco, who showed her a picture of her niece before he was forced to depart. In spite of her outright disdain for the UNSC, Amanda still felt some familial affection for the Spartan and wished him well as he left the settlement. To her surprise, Iris Touré had offered to make a case for Avalon before the UEG Senate as an example of a self-sufficient settlement, though Amanda felt that their own past as Insurrectionists would almost certainly lead to any appeal for legitimacy being denied. Shortly after Touré and Marco's vessel departed, a second ship arrived in-system, drifting towards Emerald Cove. Badly damaged and venting atmosphere in several locations, it had evidently been attacked. Rushing to its aid, Amanda took a small group with her aboard the Dynasty to provide assistance to the beleaguered vessel. Donning EVA suits, Amanda's team were able to board the ship, whose crew had all evidently died when the oxygen generators cut out. While her plan was to initially take it in for scrap, she would eventually find a single survivor - a young woman - in the armoury, barely alive but attached to an almost-depleted oxygen tank. Amanda had Mitchell carry her back aboard the Dynasty for emergency treatment for what they feared was oxygen deprivation and exposure as they headed back towards their settlement. Much to Amanda's relief, the woman made a very quick recovery and identified herself as 'Elizabeth Shaw', who had been part of an independent salvaging operation. With her ship lost, the survivor expressed an interest in joining Avalon's community, which Amanda approved of almost immediately. Leaving Isabelle to introduce the newcomer to their growing home, Amanda focused her time into making her final preparations for their mission to Sargasso. After amassing a small flotilla of freighters to accompany the Dynasty, Amanda brought as many fighters as she could from Avalon with her, expecting to meet serious resistance at the isolated URF base. To supplement her forces, she also brought both of her prized Mantis mechs to assist them in battle. After pinpointing the exact location of Magnus' hidden fortress, she ordered their attack force to move in and piloted one Mantis while Carol DuMont handled the other. Swooping in over the landing pads, she was surprised to see a firefight already raging outside the base as the two mechs were dropped into the midst of battle, followed shortly after by a thruster pack-equipped Saernus. With the element of surprise and superior firepower on their side, Amanda's team cut a bloody swathe through not only the surprised rebel defenders, but a force of newly-arrived UNSC troops. Realising that the UNSC would likely send in reinforcements to overwhelm the base soon and cursing her poor luck, Amanda ordered her allies to hold the landing pad. While she knew that her hastily-assembled fighters wouldn't last long against a well-armed and organised military force, Amanda was willing to sacrifice them if it meant hunting down and killing Magnus. Moving in alone while Mitchell and a team of their best fighters fought their way through the base the hard way, Amanda was able to access a maintenance tunnel and spent some time clambering down to the bunker's lower levels. While most of the base had been sealed off, she was able to blow through numerous security doors, killing anyone who stood in her path after discovering that Magnus was fleeing towards his shuttle in a nearby hangar. Reaching the control room as her hated foe tried to board his ship, Amanda sealed the hangar doors and attempted to sabotage the launch by any means necessary, though she instantly attracted the terrifying rebel's ire. Amanda opened fire on the cyborg as he approached, only to have her rounds deflected as he activated an arm-mounted energy shield. After expending an entire magazine of submachine gun fire to no effect, she began to run with Magnus in close pursuit. While she could not outrun her heavily augmented pursuer, Amanda was able to evade Magnus by using the network of corridors and offices built into the bunker's lower level to stay just ahead of him, and was eventually able to circle back round into the hangar, where she shot the remaining few guards before being struck by a thrown crate. Momentarily dazed, Amanda was caught by Magnus, who pinned her to the floor and taunted her for her failed attack. Still defiant, Amanda struggled against him and even mocked Magnus, telling him about her SPARTAN-II brother and saying that he would avenge her death. Unbeknown to her, Magnus knew Marco and enraged by this revelation, attempted to crush her skull beneath his boot. Amanda would have died were it not for Ash Mitchell's sudden arrival, crashing into the terrorist and engaging him in close quarters. This gave her enough time to retrieve a plasma rifle from her discarded pack and open fire on Magnus as he shot Mitchell repeatedly, managing to destroy one of his prosthetic hands and severely damage his right leg, which to her surprise was also mechanical. Unable to properly fight back, Magnus fled aboard his ship and blasted his way out of the hangar while Amanda ran to aid the badly-wounded Mitchell. While her target had escaped, Amanda was pleased that she had at least been able to hurt the seemingly invincible Magnus, and began to make her way out of the base via an emergency exit by the hangar entrance. The pair were picked up by the Dynasty after reaching the surface, with Faisal informing her that they had lost almost their entire force in this assault. While Saernus, Carol and a few others had made it back, the rest - including one of their irreplaceable Mantis mechs - hadn't made it out. After bringing Mitchell to the infirmary to be tended to, Amanda ordered Faisal to head back to Avalon, where they could recuperate and plan their next move. As they returned to Emerald Cove, Amanda and the survivors were unable to contact Avalon. As they drew closer to the settlement, they discovered that it was under attack by the UNSC, and narrowly avoided being shot down as they attempted to land. Against the advice of Faisal, Amanda, Saernus and several militia members disembarked in an attempt to rescue Avalon's citizens and soon found that the perpetrators of the attack were elite commandos working directly for the Office of Naval Intelligence. Contacting Rizhan Kama and Mary after sending Saernus off to secure a nearby habitat, she gained access to Avalon's command room, where Mike Goldberg informed them that they had been betrayed from within by Elizabeth Shaw, their newest refugee. The infiltrator had deactivated their defence systems and murdered Isabelle, paving the way for an all-out attack on the now-defenceless Avalon. With little time to grieve, Amanda her way to the data centre and reactivated Avalon's anti-aircraft guns, buying themselves a little more time to escape and enduring a gunshot wound in the process. Before they could reunite with their fellows, a sudden bombing attack cut Amanda and Rizhan off from the command room, forcing them to retreat towards a partially-constructed portion of the colony where the Dynasty could pick them up. While she initially refused to abandon her comrades, a renewed attack forced them to flee the planet immediately, leaving Avalon to burn and the survivors at ONI's mercy. As they sped away, Amanda passed out from her injury and required emergency treatment as they entered slipspace. Amanda and her crew would eventually escape to , taking a moment to rest and mourn their dead. The loss of Avalon and a number of allies weighed heavily on the young leader, who blamed herself for leaving Mike, Mary, Saernus and many others behind. Her only solace came in the form of a video file pieced together from information extracted from Avalon's data core before they left, displaying security footage of ONI's troopers slaughtering their way into Avalon and the harsh treatment of civilian prisoners. After having Faisal and Carol piece the footage together, it was released over for billions to see. While ONI's propaganda machine soon excused Avalon's fall as an anti-piracy operation, Amanda knew that they had struck a blow against the organisation with damning evidence of what many saw as a war crime. Though the information was suppressed through major channels, she hoped that by sowing discontent she could inspire others to speak out against the likes of ONI. With a severely depleted crew and no permanent home outside of the Dynasty, Amanda was forced to watch as many of her followers scattered after Avalon's fall. Though she eventually came to accept that her idea of an independent state had indeed turned into a refuge for former pirates and criminals - herself included - she refused to give up on her goal of killing Magnus in spite of its seeming futility. This would only serve to push away more of her crew over the course of several months, with some seeing her as a vengeance-crazed lunatic instead of the charismatic captain they had joined up with. In addition to Magnus, she also intended to discover the identity of the ONI leader who had destroyed Avalon, though aside from some scant details this was a very distant goal. By January of 2557, Amanda's only loyal followers were Ash Mitchell, Faisal Khan, Rizhan Kama and Carol DuMont, all of whom were willing to join her on an increasingly dangerous series of raids across colonised space in her blind pursuit of Magnus. Ciudad de Huesos Incident Personality Having grown up with few friends and only her immediate family to rely on, Amanda was a solitary girl who mistrusted strangers and rarely spoke unless spoken to. Living in near-nomadic refugee camps and only attending makeshift schools until she arrived on Earth meant that she was heavily influenced by her parents in terms of personality; she inherited her father's fairly down-to-earth nature, while retaining the somewhat fiery temper of her mother. Though this led to a few incidents at first while she attended school on Earth, Amanda became surprisingly well-adjusted for a former refugee and was content with remaining there as a civilian. However, the death of her parents during the Battle of Earth badly affected her, making Amanda drop out of University after losing focus on what she wanted from life and lead to her joining the Marine Corps. There, she found some order to her life, though her unwillingness to adhere to the rigid rank structure later contributed to her eventual discharge. Life on the frontier among the Dynasty's crew allowed Amanda to open up properly for the first time in years, becoming a much more confident woman willing to take risks to gain what she wanted. Having to deal with the scum of the galaxy made her adopt a tough, but fair attitude to gain both the respect and fear of others, both Human and alien. Amanda's leadership abilities did not emerge until the end of the NOVA Incident and the death of Remi Marshall, which left her in command of both the Dynasty and its crew. As she established Avalon, she became much friendlier in public, though her anger against both Magnus and the UNSC would easily make her temper flare up and cloud her rational judgement. This would only worsen after Avalon's fall, whereupon she became completely consumed by her desire for vengeance against those who had destroyed everything she held dear. Skills and Abilities Amanda's period in the taught her a number of skills that came in handy during her years with the Insurrection and as a smuggler. While her marksmanship with rifles was average at best, she was an excellent shot with lighter weaponry and preferred to carry an due to its stopping power and fire rate being useful in a gunfight. During her years as a freighter captain, Amanda would often carry a concealed 'Snapshot' pistol up her sleeve while attending meetings and deals in case things turned violent, the weapon saving her life on multiple occasions. Her time with the Insurrection also led to her gaining some knowledge of explosives and bomb making; she learned a number of ways to disguise explosive material from and other systems of detection during this period. Behind the Scenes/Trivia *Amanda is the main protagonist of the Dynasty Trilogy. She was initially planned to die at the end of the first story, though the author grew attached enough to her character to keep her alive. List of Appearances *''Halo: Shrike'' (2554-55) *''Halo: Sanctuary'' (2556) *''Halo: Salvation'' (2557) *''Dead Weight'' (2557) Category:Sigmaverse Category:Brodie-001 Category:Sigmaverse Characters Category:Sigmaverse PW